Laser diodes are solid state electronic devices which convert electrical power to light. Such devices are commonly used in applications requiring high digital data rates, or electrical isolation of circuitry. The typical device has a laser emitting bar formed of a solid state material which is pumped or excited by pulsed electric current. The pumping of the device causes photon energy to be emitted from the device. Frequently, a high number of like devices are monolithically combined or stacked to form a laser diode array.
A problem commonly encountered with laser diode arrays is the dissipation of heat. A typical laser emitting bar operates at a range of 2 to 3 volts. An array covering a surface of 1 cm.times.1 cm would typically contain 30 laser emitting bars and operate at a maximum of 90 volts. In ordinary usage, the array would be pumped with electric current of up to 100 amps. Assuming an average duty cycle of 1%, the total power to the array would be 100 watts. Since the typical array converts roughly 30% of the power to light energy, 70 watts of energy in the form of heat must be dissipated. Without adequate cooling, at this power level the array would quickly burn out.
In the prior art, numerous techniques have been suggested for cooling solid state integrated circuits. One such technique, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,758,926, provides a microchannel heat sink having a plurality of microscopic channels, or "microchannels." A cooling fluid is forced through the channels, which draws away the waste heat. The solid state device could be mounted directly onto the microchannel heat sink, or the microchannel heat sink could be formed as a lower layer of the solid state device.
A significant disadvantage and limitation of known microchannel heat sink cooling techniques is that they are not readily adaptable to laser diode arrays due to their significantly higher power and temperature dissipation requirement over that of other solid state devices. Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a fully enclosed mounting module for a laser diode array which utilizes microchannel heat sink cooling techniques. It would also be desirable if such a mounting module could provide both power and a cooling fluid to the laser diode array. Additionally, it would be beneficial if the mounting module could be conveniently joined with other like modules to form a larger matrix.